David Cassidy on the Web
David Cassidy was a superstar who sold 25 million...
January 22, 1997
By Vernon Scott
Hollywood Reporter
www.upi.com
HOLLYWOOD -- David Cassidy was a superstar who sold 25 million records in five years and became the world's highest paid solo performer at age 21. In the early '70s he starred in 'The Partridge Family' with his stepmother Shirley Jones, and was a heartthrob to millions of squealing schoolgirls who plastered his posters on their bedroom walls and toted lunchboxes bearing his likeness. Then came the big quiet, the long fall from the heights of fame and fortune to relative obscurity. Thereafter it was assumed that Cassidy, like most flashes in the pan, would remain a has-been for the rest of his life, probably facing a series of tragedies leading to a lonely old age. But Cassidy, now 46, has arisen from the ashes of a burned-out career to star in 'EFX,' the high-tech odyssey through time and space at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, a nightly stage show that evokes superlatives from almost everyone who sees it. In Los Angeles the other day on a visit from his new home in Las Vegas, Cassidy said, 'I'm very fortunate this show has come along in my life. 'You know, many people who become famous and enjoy great success when they're young disappear after that. Maybe I've lucked out because I came back and went to work. 'Whatever I did was about the work as opposed to trying to just create fame. I worked hard until my former fame began to work for me instead of against me.
'In the '80s it was difficult and frustrating to appear in the theater and TV again even though I had some successful shows and hit records. 'Now I have to say the '90s are the best decade of my life. I've done the best work and, in a funny way, I'm enjoying the most success... more than in the '70s. 'You can never be an unknown and then discovered more than once in your career. You become a superstar overnight because of the impact of television, plus the records and concerts. It was special. I'll never have that again. 'The truth is I wouldn't want it again. 'What I want is credibility I got as a songwriter and actor and doing 'Blood Brothers' on Broadway with my brother Shaun.' Cassidy is honored he was chosen to replace Michael Crawford of 'Phantom of the Opera' fame as the star of 'EFX,' said to be the hottest show in Vegas history. 'To be thought of in the same terms with Crawford and to have MGM make the same commitment to me that they did to him -- by completely rewriting the script and changing the music for me -- is a real compliment. 'I'm in awe of the scope and size of 'EFX' and the impact it has six nights a week. It is the biggest theatrical production in history. 'It cost $45 million to stage in a five-story stage with 150 people making it work six nights a week. It is a unique event. It's bright, hip and colorful. We do great stuff for 90 minutes. 'It's a journey my character takes through time and space. He's everyman living an astonishing life. 'My brother Shaun was one of the writers. I pitched in and we put the whole new show together in a few months, which is fantastic for a production of this scope. It's very contemporary.' Cassidy isn't the same cool, kicked-back individual he was in his teens and 20s when he was a supernova. This resurrected Cassidy is enthusiastic and passionate about his career. He seems not to take it all for granted as he did before. 'I don't have the same persona,' he said, grinning. 'I think of my career as something apart from myself. Not like it was in the 'David Cassidy era' when I was a young icon with all the labels I've tried to dispel because they inhibit me from moving on. 'My life now is about the work, not the fame.' He recalled Rick Nelson, a singing superstar with a clean-cut image whose drug habit became widely known after he died in a plane crash. 'He had a terrible substance abuse problem. Drugs killed more artists and talents of the '50s and '60s. I had my own problems with alcohol and drugs in my life, but fortunately I had an inner strength that helped. I've been lucky. 'It's a painful thing to live through. For me and some others is was a question of trying to numb the pain of reality. I was a 25-year-old guy wondering what to do with my life, lost in the sense of being a sex symbol and icon. I just wanted to be a guy. 'My problem was I became an adult too soon, working 18 hours a day seven days a week at 18. When it was over I told myself I was going to live the carefree college years I missed. 'Now I know I've been blessed with some talent and a real strong work ethic. I'm not trying to repeat the fame by keeping in the public eye. 'Other people are rediscovering me, which is something I did a few years ago.'
